The argument against upgrading

I’ve always assumed upgrading hifi can be worthwhile provided there is some audible improvement in sound quality. Maybe, this assumption should be challenged.

Let’s suppose I make some change to my system. I make a meaningful comparison that proves it sounds better in some way.

Before making the change, I was already able to get into and enjoy certain recordings. Surely, I can’t get into these recordings any more than that. It’s an either or thing not a matter of degree.

So what does the upgrade actually do for me in practice? I fear that more often than not it may be absolutely nothing.

I am not arguing that there is no better. Just that incrementally better may not necessarily always translate into more musical enjoyment.

I suppose this all begs the question what I actually mean by better.

What’s your view on the benefits of upgrading? How can we reliably assess whether it is effective?

newton_john01-03-2026 10:21am

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newton_john OP Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 569 posts 01-08-2026 at 05:05am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete @woutb Nicely put. Thank you. Sound quality is objectively out there. Enjoyment of music is an individual’s inner subjective experience. They are closely related but not necessarily synonymous.
triton20trx Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 86 posts 01-08-2026 at 01:41pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete “Just because you can, don’t mean you should” Joe Bonamassa But I did anyway and now I’m returning it. I’ve learned a couple things in this discussion. Don’t sell what I’m replacing too fast. Rotate speakers and/or amps on hand. $ divided by improvements, was it worth it
mahgister Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 15,051 posts 01-08-2026 at 03:23pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Well said! Sound quality is objectively out there. Enjoyment of music is an individual’s inner subjective experience. They are closely related but not necessarily synonymous. Sound quality is related to acoustical and psycho-acoustical parameters linking a system a room and a pair of ears attached to a head... Enjoyment of music is proportional to our perception of music through or brain /heart/body... The 5 th Symphony of Bruckner is not made just of sounds but of meanings which we must learned and are available not only through our perceptive body but through our feeling heart and delivered, received or not, to our understanding mind...The symphony may be even partially understood reading a sheet of paper ... Then the enjoyment of music is related to sound quality through not only our body but with it but through our heart and with it and through our mind and with it ...(there is not much short time memory of sound quality but there is a long term memory of sound quality hidden in our unconscious/conscious feeling body ) Most people listen music with, each one of them, a different access to it because of their personal history of the relation between their body, heart and mind... Most people will never learned anything from Bruckner 5 th symphony nor from Ali Akbar Khan or from Nigerian Yoruba Speaking drum or from Sun Ra...Or Philip Glass ...Or Scriabin...Why ? Music like acoustics must be learned... Tastes suit crocodiles,as human we must develop ourselves beyond basic tastes for repetitive rythms or simplistic moods or commercial programmings...In the same way knowing acoustics basics help us to free ourselves from marketing audio upgrades squirrel circle.. Acoustis basics must be learned too as music... There is no tastes in acoustics as concept only psycho-acoustics biases created by our personal history which limit us facing all possibilities, biases must be eliminated or replaced by training not by impractical double blind test ... «Are you not a bit snob Bob ? »--
mapman Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 23,613 posts 01-08-2026 at 03:48pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Life’s too short. Just do it! Whatever it is that turns you on.
mahgister Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 15,051 posts 01-08-2026 at 06:16pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Life’s too short. Dont do it! Because it matter which kind of things turn you "on". Think before acting, even before a tempting upgrade or a tempting woman... - = X + = x =/ X